Waltham to Further Study Temporary Medical Marijuana Ban

Waltham officials plan to further explore a proposed moratorium that would prohibit medical marijuana shops from opening until April 2014. 

Councillors, during a Monday, April 8 public hearing at Waltham City Hall, reviewed the moratorium proposal that is intended to give city officials additional time to figure out where medical marijuana stores can be located. If approved, medical marijuana centers would be prohibited from opening until after April 2, 2014. 

The Board of Survey & Planning also joined the hearing.

Under state law, each county would have at least one medical marijuana center and a maximum of five.

After some debate, the issue was referred to the Ordinance & Rules Committee. The Board of Survey & Planning will take up the issue on May 1. 

SUPPORT FOR MORATORIUM 

City Councillor Daniel Romard, who proposed the moratorium, said the temporary ban was needed because Waltham is a prime location for a medical marijuana shop and that additional time was needed to finalize zoning regulations that would govern store locations, according to the Boston Globe.

“But I want to be sure we’re ready, and make sure there’s not a surprise where we might have to scramble," Romard said, according to the Globe.

Francis Stanton, a Waltham High School teacher, told the council he supports the moratorium because he wants to make sure that medical marijuana does not end up in improper hands.

OPPOSITION TO MORATORIUM 

Annette Reynolds, a Lake Street resident, told the council she opposed the moratorium because she believed it would be a “backdoor” way to ban such centers. Attorney General Martha Coakley has said communities cannot prohibit medical marijuana centers but can impose moratoriums.

Reynolds said she understood some people think pot stores would attract "undesireables," to the city but that those residents need the benefits of medical marijuana. 

"[The undesirables] are the ones whose faces are in grimaces of pain [from illnesses],” Reynolds said.

CONCERN 

Board of Survey & Planning member M. Justin Barrett said he was concerned that Waltham would look like it was trying to altogether avoid having medical marijuana shops. Romard, however, said that was not his plan.

“It was not my intent … to try and avoid a marijuana dispensary in Waltham,” he said. “That’s not the way I am looking at it."

STATE REGULATIONS

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued draft regulations for medical marijuana centers and plans to hold hearings for them on April 19, according to the Globe. A final vote will be held on May 8 and the rules would go into effect on May 24.